15 Startups Leading The Hardware Revolution

The team at Grand St. a New York based start up that sells the hottest gadgets.Grand St.

New hardware companies are one of the hottest trends in the startup world.

Instead of building apps and Web services, companies are building real physical hardware that you can buy and use.

A lot of these find life on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, where the community votes with its wallet on what gadget they want to use. Most notably, there's Pebble, a company that makes smartwatches, and Ouya, a company that makes an Android-based video console. Both companies have raised millions in regular VC money after seeing success on Kickstarter.

But they're not alone. Check out some other cool hardware startups you need to know about.

Grand St. helps hardware makers sell their products

Why you should care: Grand St. is an online hyper-curated boutique that sells creative technology. Grand St. is a great way to discover new products because the site only stocks gadgets that have been tested by someone on staff.

Funding: $1.3 million

Pebble makes a smartwatch that connects to your Android phone or iPhone

Why you should care: Pebble was one of the largest Kickstarter campaigns ever, raising over $10 million in about 30 days.

The watch uses sports and fitness apps, allowing you to get notifications from your smartphone. Pebble also lets users wirelessly control music without having to remove your smartphone from your pocket.

Funding: $26.1 million

Ouya is a $99 game console that challenges traditional systems.

Why you should care: Ouya is re-imaging how we consume video games. Traditionally, consoles cost upwards of $300, but this device is tiny and cheap. The Ouya runs its own version of the Android operating system and is in the process of developing exclusive content.

The platform is completely open, meaning any Ouya owner and gamer can also become a developer.

Leap Motion is changing how we interact with our computers.

Concept: Leap Motion makes a small motion sensor that lets users wirelessly interact with their computer. The company was inspired by frustration surrounding 3D modeling using a mouse and keyboard.

Why you should care: The Leap Motion controller is tiny. It allows you to use gestures based motions to interact with computers. Users simply wave in front of the screen. This game-changing technology frees us from mice and keyboards and imitates the tablet experience on a desktop.

Funding: $44.1 million

Olloclip is a tiny iPhone camera accessory that lets users take dynamic photos.

littleBits are small, simple, intuitive, blocks similar to LEGOs. They make creating things with sophisticated electronics as easy as snapping small magnets together.

Concept:littleBits is a New York based company that sells a library of modular electronics that snap together with tiny magnets for prototyping, learning, and fun.

Why you should care: littleBits is a starter kit that lets you build your own gadgets. You can get as creative as you want to. For example, one littleBits user made his own alarm clock that wakes him up when the sun rises and only goes off when he's home. The only limit is your imagination.

Funding: $4.5 million

Lapka empowers its users to use science to discover more about their environment.

Concept: Lapka is a set of four beautifully designed environmental sensors that connect to your iPhone. The company's goal is to "mix Yves Saint Laurent and NASA together.”

Why you should care: Lapka's sensors plug into your iPhone's headphone jack and pair with an app that can measure environmental properties and record radiation, humidity, EMF, and even how organic something is.

The company has an eye for design both inside and out, its devices are carefully crafted and beautiful.

Funding: Unknown

Ploom creates portable vaporizers, ushering in a new healthier way to enjoy tobacco.

Concept: Ploom designs and manufactures portable tobacco vaporizers that re-imagine the smoking experience. The company's most popular device, the Pax, mixes modern tech, materials, and processes with a beautiful, simple design.

Why you should care: Vaporizing is an alternative method to consuming tobacco. Ploom's portable line of vaporizers extract the active ingredients of tobacco by heating them up to a high temperature versus burning it with a flame. The device achieves zero combustion, eliminating smoke and second-hand smoke.

This doesn't necessarily mean vaporized tobacco is better for you, but it is less intense than smoking the traditional way.

Funding: Unknown

SpaceMonkey lets you make your own cloud storage service.

Concept: Our files are increasingly being stored in the cloud, but SpaceMonkey believes the current way we interact with the cloud is flawed. The company wants to take the cloud out of the data center and move it to the very edge — consumer's homes.

Why you should care: SpaceMonkey is providing 1TB of cloud storage for $120 per year. The Space Monkey device moves the cloud into your home, making it easier than ever to store, share, and access all your digital content—photos, videos, documents, and music—online.

Once you've stored a file on Space Monkey, the company says it's always safe. There is no need for off-site backup products or external hard drives. SpaceMonkey keeps a copy of your files locally on the Space Monkey device and another encrypted copy spread throughout its storage network—making your data virtually indestructible.

Funding: $2.6 million

Makerbot is leading the way in the consumer 3D printing space.

Why you should care: Makerbot's line of 3D printers are relatively affordable, they retail starting at, $1,999. In addition, the company separates itself from the competition by offering support provided by full-time staff, and relatively low cost build material.

Funding: $10 million

Amiigo is a new wearable band that can tell exactly what exercise you're performing.

Why you should care: Smartphones are constantly running low on power and ChargeCard makes sure that you always have a charging cable. The ChargeCard is available for any smartphone that supports Micro USB, Apple products that support the 30-pin dock connector (iPhone 3GS/4/4S, iPad 1, 2, and 3), and even the new Lightning Port (iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPad Mini).

Ninja Blocks bridges the gap between different gadgets.

Why you should care: Using Ninja Blocks you can automate your gadgets. For example, using the system you can get an alert when your friends are playing on Xbox Live or send a text message to your phone when someone knocks on your door.

While this seems complicated Ninja Blocks does the hard work for you removes the coding and networking to allow users to focus on automating our lives.

Funding: $1.1 million from Kickstarter

Lockitron provides keyless entry using just your smartphone.

Why you should care: The beautifully designed, Lockitron slips over the inside of most deadbolt locks. It has built-in Wi-Fi so you can lock and unlock your door from afar. With the iPhone app you can also check the status of and lock or unlock your door without being near it.

Lockitron's best feature is Bluetooth integration, which allows the Lockitron to sense when your iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 is nearby and unlock the door automatically.

Funding: $2.2 million

Everpurse is a small purse that has a special charging pocket to wirelessly charge smartphones on the go.

Concept: A small purse with a special pocket that lets you charge your smartphone wirelessly.

Why you should care: The company has set out to build a product that is powerful and easy to use. Just drop your phone inside a special pocket in your purse and it charges. Besides including powerful technology, the bags are also well-designed and come in a range of different materials and fabrics. The Everpurse itself is easy to charge too, simply drop it on a wireless charging mat and it will refill its own battery. The Everpurse will charge your phone from 0% to 100% about twice in one day.

Funding: $238,187 (via Kickstarter)

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